English ONe Vocabulary Seven

amiss Adjective “Not as it should be” I could tell something was amiss when my dog would not stop barking at the door.

aspire Verb (aspires, aspired, aspiring) To seek to achieve something If you aspire to become an engineer, you must work hard and get good grades throughout high school and college.

Grammar Direct Object: The noun in the sentence that receives the action. Won’t be part of a prepositional phrase. Can’t be a subject—it won’t have its own verb. Example: I ate a donut in the morning. I = subject Ate = verb Donut = direct object (because it’s what I ate)

grammar In English, the whole class wrote an essay. In English = Prepositional Phrase Class = subject Wrote = verb Essay = Direct object (because it’s what they wrote) Max asked his sister a question about the dance. Max = Subject Asked = verb Question = Direct object (it’s what he asked)_

Grammar Label and cross out prepositional phrases. Underline subjects once and verbs twice. Label helping and main verbs. Infinitives in parentheses. Label direct objects DO. In the middle of the street, the policeman had to shout directions at the drivers. The quarterback should have thrown a long pass to the open receiver in the endzone.

detest Verb To hate something Because he is an egomaniac and a bad MC, I detest Kanye West. (Nas, Jay Z, Black Thought, MF Doom, Pretty much everyone in the Wu Tang Clan, Tupac, Eminem, Rakim, Killer Mike, Andre 3000, etc., are all way better.)

flagrant Adjective Obviously bad or offensive Your flagrant disrespect for the law will get you into trouble some day.

Grammar Label and cross out prepositional phrases. Underline subjects once and verbs twice. Label helping and main verbs. Infinitives in parentheses. Label direct objects DO. For their final art project, Anahi and Brian are going to paint a picture of a bird on a flower. All of the students are baking apple pies in their cooking classes.

frail Adjective Fragile/easily broken Be careful there, that staircase looks pretty frail.

Flustered Adjective Overwhelmed/Out-of-sorts The babysitter was flustered by the time the parents came home.

nondescript Adjective Unremarkable/doesn’t really stand out He kept his money in a nondescript black gym bag so no one would steal it.

Nurture Verb (adjective: nurturing) Take care of/Encourage growth of The gorilla nurtured the kitten as if it were its own baby. 9 plus 10 = 21

grammar Label and cross out prepositional phrases. Underline subjects once and verbs twice. Label helping and main verbs. Infinitives in parentheses. Label direct objects DO. I did not have any money to buy a sandwich from the deli. At the factory outside the city, they made chairs and tables to sell at Costco.

presume Verb To suppose or believe (even without checking first) He presumed that he was invited to the party, so he was embarrassed when he wasn’t allowed in.

Prior Adjective Earlier/Before/Previous Prior experience has taught me that I am a terrible cook.

inevitable Adjective Going to happen no matter what Carlos assumed it was inevitable that he would get an A, so he didn’t study; bad choice, Carlos.

vigilant Adjective Watchful/Aware After three houses were TP’ed in one weekend, the entire neighborhood was vigilant.

Grammar Label and cross out prepositional phrases. Underline subjects once and verbs twice. Label helping and main verbs. Infinitives in parentheses. Label direct objects DO. In the weeks before the fight, the determined boxer hit the heavy bag every day to prepare and build endurance. He threw a vicious uppercut and won the fight by knock-out in the eighth round.

Wednesday 10 minute vocabulary review: Quiz a partner Challenge: Trade off using this week’s vocabulary words in sentences. During this time, if you are still struggling to understand grammar, let me know and I will come around and help you.